Article

Harden ´not concerned at all´ by Rockets´ collapse

7 December 2018 11:05

James Harden insists he is "not concerned at all" about the Houston Rockets despite another dismal quarter in defeat to the Utah Jazz on Thursday.

The Rockets were outscored 17-9 by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the fourth quarter en route to a road loss on Monday and a 12-minute spell again cost Houston in Salt Lake City, going down 38-11 in the third as the Jazz coasted to a big 118-91 win.

Yet star man Harden says there is little to be overly worried by, saying "it happens in basketball", although he is keen for the Rockets to improve.

"I'm not concerned at all," Harden told reporters. "What would I be concerned about? It happens. It happens in basketball.

"We've got to watch the film and figure out how to get better, whether that's winning the turnovers or defensively being better. We don't know yet. I'm pretty sure it's a variety of things, though."

Asked for his analysis of the decisive third quarter, he added: "[The Jazz] got off to a really good third quarter. We didn't make shots, they made shots. We had a couple of mistakes on defense and they capitalised on them."

Houston slipped to 11-13 against Utah, but Harden is not interested in drawing comparisons to the Rockets team that finished the 2017-18 regular season as top seeds.

"We can't do anything about last year. We've got to just focus on this year, each game and each day getting better," he said. "Honestly, we've got a completely different roster.

"We focus on what we've got to improve every game. Things aren't always going to great, but sometimes things are going to go great. We've just got to stay the pace, stay the course until the end."